This invention pertains to a unique ad hoc communication-network self-organizing practice referred to herein as proxy networking, which practice involves, among other things, the identification, establishment (selection), management and control of what are called proxy, or proxy coordinator nodes (PCos). Such nodes, according to the invention, (a) act as intermediaries between a central coordinator node (CCo) and identified hidden nodes (HDEVs) which cannot communicate directly and bidirectionally with the CCo, and also (b) facilitate communication between hidden nodes and other network nodes, all for a purpose of enabling acceptable network participation by hidden nodes.
As will be seen from the discussion presented herein, practice of the various proxy-networking features of the present invention involves, utilizes, and addresses many aspects, both positive and problematic, of hidden node entry into and behavior with a network. Included among these matters are the following:
1. Identifying hidden nodes, per se, through examining network topology information (gathered in any suitable manner);
2. Applying a specifically useful implementable algorithm to analyze such topology information thereby to find an optimal proxy coordinator node (PCo) to aid in managing appropriate network communication involving an identified hidden node;
3. Controlling and managing the allowed entry of a hidden node into and participation in a network, including addressing an appropriate key exchange (security) mechanism, or mechanisms where necessary, in these processes;
4. In relation to this controlling and management activity, preventing any collateral network communication problems from arising due to the presence of a hidden node, the fact of which could affect an entire network;
5. The establishment of a proxy network, per se;
6. Managing the exchange of control messaging between an accepted and entered hidden node and a central coordinator node via a proxy node; an illustration of control messaging (which is also security-related) is messaging including bandwidth request and allocation information; and
7. In the process of selecting the optimal proxy coordinator node, or nodes, doing so (a) in a manner which minimizes the resulting total number of selected proxy nodes, and (b) with the steps of selection being carried out through the activities of a digital processing engine operating on the basis of appropriate relevant control instructions, examples of which are set forth herein in a described, preferred algorithm.
As will become more fully apparent to those skilled in the art, from a study of the disclosure herein of the present invention, implementation of the invention has special utility in a number of readily understandable circumstances. Among these are included (a) a circumstance of initial installation/establishment of network, (b) whenever there is a prospective network change, as by way of a new node, hidden or otherwise, seeking to join the network, and (c) whenever there is some kind of network-functioning discontinuity as, for example, when a new central coordinator node may need to be designated. Other useful circumstances for employment of the invention will certainly come to the minds of those skilled in the art.
All of the invention proxy networking features and considerations set forth above are expressed in more elaborated manners in the detailed description of the invention presented below.
As will be appreciated, the invention is useful in organizing both distributed and centralized communication-networks.
Practice of the invention assumes that there is, in existence, a full-network topology map, or table, which has been created in any suitable manner to provide certain important foundation information about the nodes which are to be appropriately integrated into an established network. Fundamentally, such a map presents nodal information regarding (a) the identities of all nodes intending to participate in a network, (b) the states of existing/possible connectivity between these nodes and the qualities of these connectivities, (c) the identity of ultimately the then most appropriate, selectable CCo (Central Coordinator Node), (d) the identities of so-called hidden nodes (defined below), and (e) the identities of what are referred to herein (later explained) as proxy nodes that serve these hidden nodes. This topology information is necessary if an ad hoc collection of plural nodes is to become self-organized in the most effective manner into a network.
Notwithstanding what has just been said above about a CCo, specific practice of the steps of the invention does not necessarily rely upon the presence or action of a fully pre-established CCo. Proxy networking, according to the invention, may be implemented either by such a CCo armed with topology map knowledge, or in the alternative, by the full collection of nodes per se in a situation where they each are fully armed with independent knowledge of such a map. That this is the case will also become evident to those skilled in the art from a reading of the below detailed description of the invention.
The proxy networking practice of the present invention is described herein in two, different, general network configurations, referred to, on the one hand, as centralized, and on the other, as distributed. In a centralized network, the presence of a CCo is assumed, and such a CCo performs the tasks, based upon knowledge of a full network topology map, of choosing the best-suited PCo(s) to aid communication with hidden nodes. In a distributed network, it is the individual participating nodes which, operating collectively, perform the same functions.
Beyond what has just been stated above, the various features and advantages that are offered by the present invention will become more fully apparent as the detailed description which shortly follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.